I am looking to buy a phone from someone who originally bought it at T-Mobile. If the IMEI check on the Visible website says it is compatible does that mean it is unlocked and can be activated ? Just wanted to make sure I can use it on visible before I buy it. Thanks in advance.

I've seen several posts on this subreddit where someone bought a phone second hand, and it ended up being on a device payment plan. You are at the mercy of the DPP owner if they go into collections and the phone gets blacklisted because of it.

Verizon makes it very easy to see if an IMEI is associated with a DPP, then you can make an informed decision if you want to take that risk.

All you have to do is:

• go to www.verizon.com/trade-in

• click "Get started"

• select new Customer

• Tell it the device you are getting, and follow the prompts.

• Then you'll be presented with a page to enter the IMEI, after entering it and clicking continue look for a message at the top of the screen.

If the IMEI is associated with a DPP it will say:

"This device is already enrolled in a device payment plan and isn't eligible for trade-in. You can pay off the remaining balance by going to Account, then My Devices, and clicking Pay off. When you're done, click the cart icon to return to your transaction."

This checker will also let you know if you were given the IMEI2 as it will tell you the device has two IMEI's and you need to enter IMEI not IMEI2.